Hi, we’re
Kensaku and Tomoka.

Kensaku is from Yokohama and Tomoka is from Hiroshima. We met when we joined the same company in Tokyo, and got married in 2023. We both love the mountains and often said we wanted to live near them by the time we were thirty.

We moved that plan forward: in August 2023 Kensaku joined Matsumoto City’s rural community programme, and we moved to Norikura Kogen. When we were deciding whether to go, Tomoka told Kensaku, “As long as you get to be yourself, I’m fine with it.”

For three years Kensaku worked on tourism in Norikura with the Matsumoto Alps Sangakukyo association. Tomoka kept working remotely for her Tokyo company for a while, then worked for a local business. On days off we climbed, skied and drove out at night to look at the stars. The longer we lived here, the more we liked it.

The guesthouse is the old building we had been renting as our home. We bought it in spring 2026 and did as much of the renovation as we could ourselves, from painting walls to replacing the toilets. The tubs were built by a local carpenter who knows Norikura’s hot spring well, and the wood stove was made by Eightknot in Matsumoto. Lots of local people helped us plaster the walls.

Kensaku finished the programme in July 2026, and we opened Eureka on 1 August.